This is very exciting news for us here at Wicked Edge. A lot of people have worked long and hard to bring this idea into reality. Many thanks to all involoved in making it happen. Please visit the awards page on the National Restaurant Association’s webpage here: KI Awards. The product chosen for the award is our new Professional Series Sharpener:

We’re very proud to announce that our entry in this year’s Blade Show and International Cutlery Fair was voted Accessory of the Year! We entered the prototype of our new Pro-Pack II sharpener. It’s built on the same platform as the Gen II sharpener, so anyone wishing to upgrade an existing system will be able to. Some of the exciting new features are:

New Ball Joints

Micro Angle Adjustments of +/- .05 Degrees

Vise Jaw Riser allowing for angles as low as 13 degrees (and lower depending on the width of the knife)

Great news! The diamond stones arrived (albeit a week late after a freight company mix up in Los Angeles) and the Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener – Basic Kits and Pro Pack I’s are in stock and shipping.

As we come out of a large back order due to high demand please expect 1-2 weeks to receive your tracking number.

If you need further assistance please email us at info@wickededgeusa.com or call toll free Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM, MDT at 877-616-9911.

We received confirmation today that the diamond stones needed to complete Sharpener Basic Kits and Pro Pack I’s are loaded and trucking from Los Angeles to Santa Fe. They should arrive right after Memorial Day, May 28th. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend and look forward to shipping orders as soon as possible.

A lightning storm took out our phone lines over the weekend and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Everything is back on line and working smoothly. Please give us a call Monday – Friday 9AM-5PM, Mountain Daylight Time. You can also email us at info@wickededgeusa.com. Thanks – Wicked Edge

If you’re interested in becoming a dealer of Wicked Edge products, please go to the DEALER APPLICATION FORM. You can fill it out online and send it to us via email, or print it and fax it to us at (505) 466-6611.

Convex edges are very easy to work with in the Wicked Edge. You can maintain a convex edge already on the knife and you can also create your own convex edge. To maintain the edge on a knife that already has a convex edge, all you really need to do is to use a marker and find out what the final edge angle is. There are detailed instructions of finding your angle here: Finding Your Angle. From there, you move the Collars to 1 degree lower than the edge angle and use your strops to refine the edge. If the knife has seen a lot of hard work and the edge is rolled over, you might need to strop at the actual edge angle.

To create a convex edge from scratch, all you need to do is pick your starting angle, the angle you want the shoulders to be ground at, and make two brand new bevels (called the primary bevels) at that angle, making sure that both bevels reach all the way to the edge. You’ll know you’ve reached the edge when you can detect a burr from each side when sharpening the opposite side. There is a detailed description of drawing the burr here: Drawing a Burr. Once you’ve reground the bevels to the lowest angle, progress through the grits until you achieve the desired level of polish. Then, move the collars out to the angle you’d like for your final angle and create a small bevel (called the edge bevel) using the fine stones. This only takes a moment. Ã‚Â Move the collars in 1 or 2 degrees and create another bevel (called the secondary bevel) in between the primary bevel and the edge bevel. Creating the secondary bevel is very fast. Once all three bevels are created, clean the blade well and move the collars in to the lowest angle, the angle of the primary bevel. Strop the knife at this angle until the bevels are blended into a continuous curve giving you a precise, convex edge. The video below shows the entire process:

With the Wicked EdgeÃ¢â€žÂ¢, it is easy to sharpen in either direction and with any particular bias from either tip to heel or heel to tip. It is safer to use an “away” motion. We’ve tested the sharpening direction on literally thousands of blades and found the practical result to be the same whether sharpnening into the blade or away. Examined under a microscope, the edge has a very similar appearance except that there is less fragmented metal deposited along the bevel of the blade when it is sharpened from the spine outward.

At the moment, no. We are completing a brand new technology that will make the Wicked EdgeÃ¢â€žÂ¢ able to sharpen a serrated knife without changing the serration pattern. We will update this FAQ once we have the new serration accessory available.

There is considerable (and mostly misinformed) debate on the web about angle change on guided sharpening devices along the length of the blade. Contrary to most peoplesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ intuition, the angle does not change throughout the straight length of the blade, no matter how long the blade is. It will change through the arc of the belly of the knife where the edge dips to the spine. The geometry at work is planar in nature and because the stones are able to rotate on the guide rod, they are able to maintain the same plane of contact with the blade when the blade is straight. When the blade begins to curve, the stone enters a new plane at a different angle. This new angle can be more acute or more obtuse depending on its distance from the pivot point of the guide rod. You can adjust for this effect by mounting the blade with the tip at varying distances from the clamp. Using a Sharpie marker to color in the bevel will help you quickly establish the optimum front to back positioning for your knife by allowing you to visualize the way the stone tracks along the curve. You can use the record keeper supplied with the kit to jot down the settings for each of your knives and repeat those settings for future sharpening sessions. When youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve adjusted so that the angle is perfectly consistent throughout curvature of the blade, you may have a slightly wider bevel at the tip because the edge is being cut from the thicker stock of the blade near the spine, unless the knife has a distal taper.

Here the stone is against the ruler directly above the pivot point. The angle shown on the cube is 17.4 degrees. There is a second square behind the cube ensuring that the cube is plumb.

Here the stone is held at 5.5 out from the the pivot point, simulating an 11″ blade. The Angle Cube reads 17.3 degrees. The square is again behind the cube keeping it plumb. The margin of error on the experiment was Ã‚Â±.1 degree.

The image below shows the adjustment of the knife to find the “sweet spot”.Ã‚Â

I recently wrote a brief article on Blade Forums about finding the ideal location of the knife in the clamp:

This issue comes up a lot and gives people fits but it’s very easy to solve. On a practical level, there are a couple of reasons why you might get a larger or smaller bevel along the curve of the blade.

As the stone rotates on the guide rod along the curve, it is constantly entering a new plane of contact. Depending on the curvature of the blade and the distance of the tip of the knife from the clamp, the change in bevel angle may cause the bevel to become wider or smaller. The effect is proportionate to the radius of the belly of the blade. The easiest way to find the ‘sweet spot’ for a given knife is to mount the knife with the blade approximately centered in the clamp and then color in the entire bevel with a Sharpie marker. After setting the angle, lightly swipe one of the fine stones down the length of the blade to see where the marker is removed. If the stone is removing the marker from the edge along the straight portion but then dipping down into the shoulder toward the tip, you know you need to reposition the knife with the tip closer to the clamp. If the opposite happens – that the stone removes the marker at the shoulder of the bevel along the straight portion and then moves to the edge along the curve, then you need to reposition the knife with the tip further from the clamp. Once you find the sweet spot, measure your knife’s position using the alignment guide and record the settings on the chart for future touch-ups.

The second reason you might experience a wider bevel toward the tip of the knife is due to the way the knife is ground. As the belly of the blade curves toward the spine of the knife, the edge is often cut from thicker stock resulting in a wider bevel. An 1/8″ thick blade with a 22Ã‚Â° per side angle will have much smaller bevels than a 1/4″ blade with the same 22Ã‚Â° angles. On knives where the tip is inline with the spine and where there is not a distal taper, the effect is more pronounced. A wider bevel in this circumstance is a purely cosmetic concern since the angle is constant.

There is a fair argument to be made for intentionally selecting either a more acute or more obtuse angle at the tip depending on the use of the knife. Ken Schwartz and I agree that for a chef’s knife, it’s a benefit to have a more acute belly and tip for slicing and a slightly wider angle along the straight and at the heel for chopping. I prefer the reverse for boning and fillet knives since the tip is constantly in banging around on the bones. A knife designed for utility cutting or for thrusting would benefit from a more obtuse angle at the tip and a more acute angle along the straight portion of the blade.

A common question is ‘how long of a blade can the Wicked Edge sharpen?” The quick answer is 17″. It’s possible to sharpen blades longer than 17″ but you need to reposition the blade in the clamp at least once. The video below shows a 17″ Kukri machete from Cold Steel.